


On the Clock

by toesohnoes



Category: Bedlam (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-17
Updated: 2011-07-17
Packaged: 2017-10-21 11:56:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/224932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/toesohnoes/pseuds/toesohnoes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ryan finds it terribly distracting when Jed is helping to fix their apartment.</p>
            </blockquote>





	On the Clock

It's a bit inappropriate, isn't it?

Objectifying the hired help, that is. Especially when said hired help is one of your best friends.

Jed's light grey t-shirt was almost obscenely tight, and his jeans hung low and loose on his hips. Above the waistband, his underwear rose like the tide, revealing a strip of black cotton that kept drawing Ryan's eyes down despite his attempts to remain suitably friendly. Any minute now, he was going to get caught. Jed would look around and find him staring and, boom, that would be the end of the friendship.

He pushed his glasses up his face and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Any idea what the matter might be?" he asked. Focusing on a broken radiator seemed like a far safer and wiser option than anything else he might have been thinking of.

Jed looked over his shoulder at him, his lips plump and sweet and - dear god he had to stop that line of thought in its tracks. "Not sure yet," he said. "It might just need bled to be honest. When was the last time you did it?"

"The last time I bled the radiator?" Ryan asked. His eyebrows remained arched in surprise, and he sincerely hoped that his expression didn't reveal that he had never done such a thing in his entire life. "I, oh... I couldn't say. Quite recently?"

"Really?" Jed frowned and looked back at the offending radiator again. "Maybe not, then."

"Um. Maybe not so recently then?" Ryan suggested.

Jed looked back at him, his frown now warring with a smirk of understanding. "You've never done it, have you?"

"I..." Usually, he wouldn't say anything. He'd smile it off with a shrug. "To be honest, my brother used to do that stuff."

It still felt so wrong to talk about him in the past tense - but, in a way, it helped. By placing him in the past, it became easier to walk forward. Ryan wondered if maybe he was listening to his therapist too much these days.

Jed reached out and rested a hand on his knee. It was so fluid, so casual, as if he didn't have to think about it; it meant a lot. Ryan knew that Jed didn't let people touch him too often. Being followed by ghosts for all your life seemed to be enough to give a person a few issues. Considering all that he had been through, it was a mircle that Jed had made it through to be as sane and sweet as he was. Jed's hand squeezed his leg for a moment, light and comforting. "Don't worry. I'll have it sorted in no time."

Ryan flashed a smile at him. "Thanks," he said. "It's fine if you're busy. I can google it."

"It's no problem. Stick around - I'll show you how it's done." Jed smiled, almost to himself. "The internet can't teach you everything."

"I'm actually fairly sure it could," Ryan argued, because the internet was godly and only people like Jed didn't appreciate that. "But I'll stick around. Thanks."

Within ten minutes, he was greatly regretting that decision. He was greatly regretting it because Jed apparently thought that, in order for his lessons to be effective, personal space had to be sacrificed. First, he beckoned Ryan closer so that he could see what he was doing. Then he told him to have a go with the radiator key.

When it was clear that Ryan didn't have the brute force necessary to open the damn thing, Jed then decided that the best way to solve that problem was to press close beside him, cover his hand with his own, and push.

Ryan could feel Jed's breath brushing right by his ear, a warm puff of air that left the suggestion of full lips against his skin. _Jesus Christ_ , he thought helplessly. The radiator began to give, little by little, until with a sudden push it unlocked. With a frantic, rushing sound, the trapped air rushed out, along with a few spurts of water that they caught in a paper towel.

"There," Jed said, speaking right by his ear. "Easy, see?"

Ryan nodded. He was fairly sure that this was the point at which Jed was supposed to pull away, but instead Jed stayed close against him, both of them listening. When it was done, together they closed the valve again, as Ryan waited to see what would happen yet.

He could feel Jed's entire body pressed against him now, and he knew that wasn't normal. It wasn't at all essential, especially the way that Jed's arm had just absentmindedly curled around his waist. If any other tradesman did that, Ryan would have to elbow them in the ribs.

Yet it was Jed.

They finished what they're doing and Jed still didn't pull away. He rested his chin against Ryan's shoulder, hunched down in order to do so. "Jed?" Ryan whispered. He didn't want to disturb him; he really didn't want to ruin this, whatever it was.

Jed's fingers moved helplessly, clinging onto the wool of Ryan's cardigan. "I'm sorry," he said automatically - and there was always something so broken about him, something that drew Ryan dangerously close. He should have known better, he thought.

"No, it's okay," he said, still encased against Jed's chest. It was one of the strangest non-sexual positions he'd ever been in, just standing spooned against a friend. "It's really okay."

Jed said his name, heavy and loaded in a way that sounded as if he was about to follow it up with something more - but the sound of a key in the lock disturbed them. Jed let him go and Ryan slipped away, and by the time the girls walked inside there was a smile on their faces. Jed was happy to tease him in front of Molly and Kate about his complete lack of household skills - but there was something in his eyes this time, more than Ryan was used to.

*

"I think it's evil," Jed warned. "Possessed or something."

"Computers are like cats. You just need to know how to talk to them," Ryan said. He split into a bright smile. "Luckily for you, I do."

He took hold of Jed's laptop and focused, closing out most of the rest of the world so that it was finally just him and the keyboard. Considering the mess that the poor thing was in, he wouldn't have been surprised to find that Jed was actually a master hacker. Surely you had to try in order to destroy the programming so thoroughly. It was too brilliantly done to be accidental.

"I'll pay you," Jed blurted as Ryan worked. "I know this is your job. I shouldn't be asking you to do it for free."

Ryan's gaze left the laptop's screen, which was shining bright blue at him in broken disgrace. He frowned and shook his head. "You're a friend. There's no fee."

"I can pay," Jed insisted. "How much would you be charging if I was a customer?"

Ryan didn't want to list a figure. He ran his own IT company, with a staff that consisted of only him. He did everything himself, from the advertising to the accounts to the computer tasks themselves - it was easier that way, and the operation was small enough to handle. He wasn't going to become a millionaire any day soon, but he was getting by. As long as there were computers, there would always be people foolish enough to destroy them.

He listed off his hourly fee and Jed nodded in determination. It was as if it was a point of honour for him, so Ryan decided not to press the issue: orphaned and left in a mental asylum for years, he wasn't surprised that Jed had issues when it came to accepting 'hand-outs'. He only hoped that eventually they might get past it.

He returned his attention to Jed's abused computer and slipped back into his work, the awareness of the rest of the world slipping away while he broke into the coding itself. The hands on the clock crept forward as he worked. His fingers flew over the keys and he frowned in content concentration; it was a satisfying puzzle, anyway.

When he broke one hand away in order to rub at his forehead, he became suddenly aware of Jed again. He had lost track of him at some point, forgetting that he was in the room. Now he found him sitting in one of the chairs against the wall, with a throw cushion nestled in his lap. His dark gaze was lingering on Ryan, although when Ryan caught him staring he startled and looked rapidly down at his knees as if there was something utterly fascinating to be found there.

"Everything okay?" Ryan checked.

Jed nodded and didn't say a thing. His cheeks were pink. Ryan was let with a sudden surge of guilt, as if he had just accidentally kicked a puppy. With an uncertain frown, he got back to work.

Moments later, Jed stood up and made for the door. "Wait," Ryan interrupted. "I didn't mean to embarrass you."

"I wasn't staring," Jed insisted. "I swear."

"Alright, I believe you." Ryan didn't believe him, not for a second, but he was happy to say it. He didn't want anyone to feel on edge because of him. No one usually did; with glasses and daft hair, he was the very definition of harmless. Jed's uncomfortableness suggested that he viewed things quite differently.

Unbidden, the memory from a few days ago reared before him like a spectre, the warmth of Jed pressed against him and the way that he had held onto him as if he was something special and delicate, a broken bird. There had been something there, hadn't there? Something bright and something real.

"What's going on?" Ryan asked. He moved the laptop onto the bedspread and faced Jed properly, having to look up as Jed stayed standing. "I feel like I'm going mad."

Jed's face was utterly unreadable. "I'm the mad one, remember?"

"Then maybe I'm joining you," Ryan suggested. "That's not what I mean. I mean... I don't know. Us. There's something..."

He couldn't say it. He couldn't admit to anyone, not even Molly, that he was gay. How was he supposed to confess his feelings for someone like Jed? There was a part of him that would always cringe away, he though, a part of him that was always going to be too much of a coward to take a real chance.

"I like it," Jed said suddenly. Ryan's head snapped up once more. "I like seeing you doing your work. You're good at it."

"Thanks," Ryan said uncertainly.

"It's - " Jed took a deep breath and released it into silence. "It's sexy."

It took a moment for the word to sink in. Sexy. Surprise spread into a smile. "I think that's the first time anyone's ever told me that."

"It's true." Jed looked down at his feet, but Ryan could still see a grin breaking on his face. Ryan's stomach felt warm and buzzing. He wet his lips and watched Jed, unable to take his eyes away for even a bare moment. "It makes me want to break the computer again, just so I can see you fix it."

Ryan laughed, startled into it, and he shook his head. "I'm the same with you, you know," he said. The instant confusion on Jed's face suggested that, no, he hadn't had a clue. "When you're working, Jed - you're gorgeous."

Jed looked adorably confused, which seemed to be his standard expression for a great bulk of the time. A lot of the things that happened in their lives were very confusing: ghosts and hauntings and Kate.

Then there was this.

Ryan held his hand out, denying the way that it seemed to tremble before him. It hung between the pair of them for a moment, simply waiting. His mouth was dry. He couldn't say a word.

Slowly, carefully, Jed reached out for him as well.

His hand was large and his skin was soft despite the work he was accustomed to. The heat of Jed's hand was almost unbearable. This was nothing like the stolen hook-ups that made up Ryan's weekends. It wasn't a frantic fumble in the seedy corners of a gay bar. This was something much more than that; it was something real.

Ryan breathed Jed's name, still sitting on the bed, and moments later Jed leaned down to press his full, soft lips against him. Ryan's breath caught in his chest and his eyes slid shut behind his glasses. His hand crept around to the back of Jed's head, holding him in place, the stubble from his scalp prickling against his palm. He parted his lips and flicked his tongue out to meet Jed; a shiver startled down his spine at the contact.

He shuffled back further on the bed, pulling Jed with him. Jed climbed over his body, with searing heat pinning him down. God, it was good, too good.

When Jed pulled back and sat up, looking down at him with blown pupils and kiss-red lips, Ryan felt as if he'd wandered into a wet dream without meaning to. He reached up to remove his glasses, but Jed's hand stopped him. Sheepishly, he said, "I like you with them on."

Ryan grinned and left his glasses where they were. He'd always been slightly embarrassed of them, only putting them on when he had absolutely no other choice. He'd never met anyone before who would have said that they liked them.

"They make you look smart," Jed explained, his face flushed. "I mean, they make you look... computery."

"That's a good thing?"

"On you, yes." Jed stole another flash-quick kiss from Ryan's unresisting mouth. "You're such a nerd."

Ryan laughed. "Then you are such a nerd fetishist."

Judging from the way that Jed kissed him again, hungry and devouring, that was an extremely accurate assessment.

*

They ended up sticky inside their trousers, with Ryan's glasses askew and his cardigan half-pulled off. He knew that he had red bte marks on his neck; the way that Jed's eyes kept lingering there told him all that he needed to know. It made him want to go and check them out in the mirror to see exactly what damage had been caused. It felt good, that little throb of pain.

Jed reached out and traced the frames of his glasses with a single fingertip. Ryan glanced towards him and found himself unable to withhold a grin. He wanted this more than he could have imagined or admitted.

"I'm taking this as implicit permission to ravish you the next time you have to fix something in the flat," Ryan said. "Just so you know."

"Thanks for the warning," Jed said. His hand moved to card throuh Ryan's hair, tugging lightly at the unruly mess. Across the room, the half-fixed laptop watched the pair of them. "Now I'm gonna go ahead and break something on purpose."

Ryan elbowed him in the ribs, chuckling in delight - but his laughter dissolved into a contented moan when Jed trapped him against the bed with his bulk and kissed him again, slow and thoroughly, taking all the time in the world. Ryan kissed him back, feeling better and happier than he had since before his brother's death. The laptop was forgotten. Ryan decided not to mention that, technically, he was still on the clock.


End file.
